From the essentials to cutting edge techniques in optical imaging and electrophysiology 

OPTICAL IMAGING AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL RECORDING IN NEUROSCIENCE

A 14-day residential course of lectures, demonstrations and practical work; a lectures-only option will be available online

LECTURES AND PRACTICALS

Lectures and practicals held at the Université Paris Descartes, 45 Rue des Saints Peres, 75006 Paris, France. Three days of demonstrations and lab visits are run at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (IBENS), Brain and Spine Institute (ICM) and Pasteur Institute. World-expert lecturers and instructors come from Paris, France, Europe, the world.

FEES

The course fee is expected to be 1500€ per student including accommodation and 1100€ without accommodation. Special arrangements exist for attending lectures only (including online for a modest fee) and for students from contributing institutions. We can offer a limited number of stipends to participants from low and middle-income countries.

HANDS-ON

The course consolidates basic knowledge of electronics and optics with practicals follower by all students. We then offer intensive hands-on experimental sessions over six days, with dedicated instructors and setups assembled with the latest equipment. Students choose 3 techniques from: patch-clamping in slices, field recordings, calcium imaging, high-speed cameras, 2-photon imaging, Neuropixels and photolysis.

BOARD AND LODGING

Basic accomodation in a student residence should be available. Breakfast and lunch will be provided at the course (except Sundays). All students and lecturers are invited to the welcome and farewell banquets.

DEMONSTRATIONS

There are numerous demonstrations of advanced techniques, including: high-speed two-photon imaging, in vitro and in vivo light-sheet imaging, wavefront engineering,.

PARISIAN RESEARCH SOCIAL

Make the most of your stay in Paris to learn about its extensive research community and meet with local scientists to explore opportunities for collaboration, post-docs and careers. A social evening will be organised to connect interested students and researchers.
TESTIMONIALS

All the feedback from the 2024 class

It was definitely packed and tiring, but I believe I learned quite a lot and overall it was absolutely worth it. Thanks a lot for organizing it!

This course is incredibly thorough and provides the necessary training for the next generation of neuroscientists who truly understand what they’re doing and why. The course is also a fantastic showcase of the Paris Neuroscience community embedded within the wider field, and has opened my eyes to the exciting frontiers of technological developments in neuroscience. The topics of the program are well-chosen and the practicals are an invaluable opportunity for students at any stage of their degree.!

I have never known the true meaning of sleep deprivation until this course, however, the bags under my eyes perfectly correlate with amount of knowedeldge i have acquired. I wear these bags like a badge of honour. Thank you.

Definitely recommend the course, it helped me dive in depth in numerous techniques i will be needing during my PhD and gave me a lot of insights on the present state of the optical and electrophysiology research world. I also became able to understand and be critical about the techniques I use.

If I were a PI, I would make this course mandatory for all of my students…and post-docs..

I remember reading a previous testimonial and thinking ‘sleep deprivation? No way’. It was as intense as advertised but also just as rewarding. The instructors are very open to discussion and interested in helping us children entering the field, which made it even better. Of course, the best part is how helpful the organisers are, and they are equally as fun!

A demanding and dense course with a warm and welcoming atmosphere that allowed me to get a good grasp of many optical and electrophysiological techniques used in neuroscience

I would highly recommend this course to new PhD students. It’s such a unique chance to
not only learn about, but also play with a very wide range of techniques for recording neuronal activities. The practicals directly help with my experiment in lab, and demonstration on state of art techniques really reignites my passion on neuroscience

The food, coffee, kindness and everything small simple pleasure will always be greatly appreciated. I felt as though I was really looked after, fed well and taught how to be a better researcher. So I am very grateful to all my teachers!

Founder and principal Organizer for the first 10 editions:

David Ogden

Organizers

Boris Barbour

ENS

Brandon Stell

UPC

Jon Bradley

ENS

Desdemona Fricker

UPC

Joana LOURENCO

ICM

Michael Graupner

UPC

Nelson Rebola

UPC

Eric Schwartz

UPC

Cathie Ventalon

IBENS

Adrien Schramm

Course manager

Staff

Gilles Dewailly

UPC

Luc Tamisier

UPC

Hervé Suaudeau

UPC